Welcome back to A Gem in The Rough! Completely new and original for sure! I did not have a prior version to this, no siree!

As for what the MWP is, 1 holy hero, 2 vassal hero world, with unique power up methods and magic systems, along with original characters! Woo, how fun.

This is a rewrite of the story, mainly because i was not happy with how the previous one was going, and i made several mistakes which this gave the opportunity to fix. I cant promise consistent updates, but i will try my best to update at least once every two weeks. Nothing else to say, so onto the fic.

The sound of an alarm clock filled the small room, eliciting a small groan from its sole occupant. A hand reached out from under the bed covers, lazily hitting the desk that the alarm clock stood on. The hand slammed against the desk again as its owner searched for the alarm before reaching further, finally managing to stop the alarm going off.

The owner of the hand pulled it back before sitting up, tiredly rubbing at his eyes as he let out a yawn. His blue eyes seemed to sweep over the room, taking in the state of it. Items were strewn across the small room, ranging from a half finished scarf draped over his computer chair to spare clothes being scattered around his room's floor.

He would have to clean this all up at some point today, when he actually woke up. Kurose let out another small yawn before reaching for his phone, grateful that he had not knocked it off the desk earlier.

The young man's name was Kurose Amiya, an 18 year old who had just recently finished high school. In a couple weeks time, he would be starting college, mainly to get professional guidance for his hobby so that he could hopefully turn it into something more than a hobby.

It had been fully his own choice to pursue this career path. The last time he had heard from his parents had been two years ago when they had both moved to another prefecture, and rather than uproot Kurose, they had opted to let him stay here and pay for a small apartment studio to live out of. They sent funds every month to both pay for rent and food, but it still stung slightly.

Kurose banished the thoughts from his mind. If he kept thinking about that, it would just make him sad for the rest of the day. Instead,he opted to finally look at his phone, turning it on only to blink as he took in all the notifications that had been sent in the last hour.

All of them were from his friend, Sheryl, who had been sending him nonstop texts since 8am this morning. He took another look at the time, finding it to be 10am, with the last message Sheryl had sent saying that she would be coming over to his to check in on him. That was sent half an hour ago, and Kurose knew it took 45 minutes to get to her place to his.

It only clicked a moment later that he had 15 minutes. Both to make himself presentable, and to clean his room. He blinked at the mess before moving to action. He moved to his cupboard, reaching in and taking the first set of clothes he touched. Those clothes were a simple pair of blue jeans, and a black t-shirt with a set of words written onto it, a common theme with most of his shirts.

He quickly got changed into them, running a hand through his hair as he moved to the bathroom, looking into the mirror. He eyed his black hair, running a hand through it to untangle it to the best of his ability whilst he focused on the tips of his hair, a light blue similar to his eyes. It was slightly faded, causing Kurose to let out another sigh.

Maybe I could ask Sheryl to help me dye the tips again? He thought hesitantly, letting his hands comb through his hair. But would that be asking too much of her?

He shook his head at that before moving away from the mirror, looking around his room at the mess that still remained. With a sigh, he began to clean up, picking up the clothes that were scattered around the room. Once he picked them up and did another sweep to ensure that there was nothing else left on the floor, he moved towards the washing machine, chucking it all in there. Ultimately, it wasn't much, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth that he had even let things get to the point where he left clothes on the floor.

Hell, if Sheryl hadn't messaged him to say she was coming around, he probably would have been content to keep it like that, instead spending another few hours wondering how he should proceed with his few commissioned pieces before ultimately giving up. He was glad that people commissioned him to work on his hobbies, but it made him feel bad when he put off working on stuff for so long.

He shook his head, letting the thoughts move to the back of his head as he put the conditioner in, letting the washing machine get to work. The sound of the washing machine filled his small home, and Kurose let it drown out his thoughts, moving to pick up the half finished scarf.

He began to examine it, picking at the loose threads. He knew that he would regret picking at them later when he inevitably started to work on it again, before pausing as he heard a knock on the door. He took a moment to look at his phone, frowning as he looked at the time. If it was Sheryl, she had gotten here a lot faster than he thought.

He gently put the scarf back down, folding it over itself before making his way to his door, of which the knocking had only continued to grow louder as the person outside grew more and more impatient.

"Hold on a second, I'm coming!" Kurose called out, hoping to calm down whoever it was outside.

"You better! You had plenty of time to be prepared!" Came the response, earning a small smile from Kurose.

He opened the door slightly, making sure it was just Sheryl before fully opening it. Upon seeing Kurose, she gave him a small smile before speaking.

"It's good to see you, Kurose." She spoke, giving him a hug.

Kurose returned it hesitantly before responding. "Y-yeah, it's good to see you as well Sheryl."

After a moment more, Sheryl pulled back from the hug, and Kurose motioned for her to come in, which she happily obliged. As Kurose closed the door behind them, she seemed to take a moment to look around, a small frown on her face unseen to Kurose as she took in the details of his sparsely decorated room.

"Kurose…" She spoke slowly, turning to face him, causing him to freeze.

"Yes?" He responded just as slowly.

"When are you gonna get some stuff to personalize your room? Even just some posters or pictures of things you like, you know?" She asked him curiously.

"Well… I don't really need to, do i?" He spoke simply. Upon seeing the look of confusion from Sheryl, he expanded on his reasoning. "I mean, it's just going to be a distraction for me, right? Plus, it's not really needed for me to do stuff, right?"

Sheryl frowned at him for a moment. "Why would it be a distraction? It's not going to stop you working on your commissions and all that."

Kurose shrugged. "I mean, I guess it wouldn't, but it seems like a waste of money. If I'm not going to be able to use it for any reason, then it's better not to spend my money on it."

"Kurose, not everything has to have a practical use, you know?" She spoke with a frown. "Some things can exist just to make you happy. I mean, take my room for example. It's filled with still packaged figures and I'm never going to unbox them, but just knowing that I have them makes me happy. Surely there's gotta be something like that for you!"

Kurose frowned at that, looking around his room. Did he have anything like that? The only thing he could think of that filled that sort of purpose would be a set of books he had gotten for Christmas a while back. But even then, it had just been a one time read before he put them back down to collect dust. He shrugged his shoulders at Sheryl, which caused her frown to grow.

"Well, I guess we will have to fix that then! I have the whole day free, and I'm gonna make it my mission to get you something you'll enjoy!"

Kurose looked at her for a moment, but she didn't seem like she was going to stop. He knew that when she got like this, there wasn't anything that could stop her, so all he could do was sigh and nod his head, earning a cheer from Sheryl. Kurose shook his head at that, but he couldn't stop a small smile from growing on his own face.

"Alright, alright. I've got nothing to do today anyways, so what's your plan?" He asked her. Surely if she had decided on this, she had to have a plan.

In response, Sheryl rubbed the back of her head, letting out a small, nervous laugh. "Well… I never thought I would get this far. It was all just a spur of the moment thing, you know?"

Kurose looked at her, unimpressed before shaking his head again. "Well, why don't you think of a plan while I make breakfast? I'm assuming you haven't had any, so is toast alright with you?"

As if to prove his point, Sheryls stomach let out a small growl, earning him an embarrassed laugh from Sheryl. "Yeah, that sounds good. I'll just uh… sit down and think something up whilst you do that."

Sheryl moved to sit down at the counter, and Kurose got to work, humming as he started on their breakfast. He continued to hum, reaching into the fridge as Sheryl spoke out loud, to keep Kurose informed of their plan for the day.

"Right, so I was thinking we could go to the mall? There's obviously plenty of stores there, so we could check them out. If anything catches your interest, I can buy it, as long as it isn't super expensive."

"Yeah, I kind of figured. I wouldn't want to spend all of your money anyway." He spoke with a small shrug. "What do you want on your toast?"

"Oh, just butter please. How are your commissions coming along? Are they actually paying half up front?"

Kurose paused at that before nodding. "Yeah, they are." He spoke after a moment. "Someone did try insisting that they didn't have to pay half upfront, but I turned them away."

"That's good." Sheryl spoke kindly. "I know you don't like turning people away, but you understand why, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know. Still made me feel bad for the entire day though." Kurose responded with a small shake of his head.

"I understand it makes you feel bad, but at least you understand why I'm having you do it. At least this way even if they end up ghosting you, you at least manage to recover the losses of buying all the things, maybe even make a little bit of money from them wasting your time."

"Yeah, and the finished product goes to you if no one else claims it." He responded, rolling his eyes. He did understand why Sheryl had him add that anyone who commissioned him had to pay half of it up front, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Well, yeah. If no one else is gonna take it, I'll happily wear your scarves! Plus, it's free advertising! If people ask, I can direct them to you." She spoke happily.

The toaster dinged, signaling that it was done, and Kurose dropped the pieces of toast onto the already prepared plates, starting to butter them. "Oh? And how many people have you directed my way already?"

"Um, one or two?" She offered weakly.

"Just admit you like the free stuff." He spoke with a small huff, moving the plate in front of her.

"Nope! I'll maintain that its free advertisement until I die!" She declared before picking up her toast. "Thanks for breakfast!"

Kurose watched on as she tore into the toast before shaking his head, taking small bites out of his own toast. Before long, they were both finished with their small breakfast, and Kurose took Sheryls plate, stacking it on top of his before putting it in the sink. He would clean them later, after he returned from his trip out with Sheryl.

"Ready to go out then?" Kurose asked her.

"Yeah, I'm ready, but are you really going out in that shirt?" She asked, disbelief evident in her voice.

Kurose looked down at his shirt, reading the text. "Yeah, what's wrong with it?" He asked with a small grin, already knowing what she thought was wrong about it.

"Kurose, it says 'T-Shirt', what isn't wrong with it!?" She cried out.

Eventually, Kurose managed to convince Sheryl that his shirt was perfectly acceptable to go out in, and now the duo were walking towards the mall. Sheryl was taking this opportunity to pester Kurose more.

"C'mon Kurose! You have to start going out a bit more! I know you don't like large crowds and all that, but you'll love it, trust me!" Sheryl cried out.

"Sheryl, I told you going out to party just isn't for me. I could be at home relaxing and working on stuff instead of doing all that." He spoke with a small roll of his eyes.

"But Kurose!" Sheryl spoke with a small whine. "How else are you gonna make new friends if you don't go out. You can't be satisfied with just having me as a friend, right?"

Kurose simply shrugged at that. "I mean, it's not such a bad thing. I've known you for… however long by this point, and you've always tried to help me out even when you didn't need to. I'd say I got pretty lucky that you practically forced me to be your friend."

"True." Sheryl spoke, nodding her head at that. "But that's what friends do, y'know? They help each other out. Simple as that."

Kurose nodded his head at that, and the conversation seemed to stop there, the duo walking in silence until they finally arrived at the mall. Sheryl turned to face him before speaking.

"So, you got anywhere in mind? Anywhere you think might have something that would make you happy?" She questioned him.

"Does my home count as something that would make me happy?" He asked, both his face and tone showing no emotion, earning him a pout from Sheryl.

"Kurooose!" She spoke, taking hold of his shoulders and shaking him. "Come on, be serious!"

"Alright, alright! Just stop shaking me!" He spoke quickly, already feeling slightly dizzy as Sheryl let go of him. He shook his head for a moment before speaking once more. "I guess let's just walk around, and I'll point out any shops that interest me?"

"Seriously?" She questioned him, putting a hand on her side. "You really have no idea what you might want?"

"...Not really. You know I never really buy stuff for myself." He spoke with a shrug, doing his best to ignore the frown Sheryl aimed at him.

I really am a horrible guy. How many times has Sheryl frowned around me already? It's only been what, 30 minutes?. He let those thoughts remain in his mind as he spoke to Sheryl.

"How about you decide?" He suggested as he usually did when they went out. It usually devolved into Kurose following Sheryl around.

"Hmm… That could work…" She spoke to herself out loud. "I have a few shops I think you might like! Come on!"

With that, Kurose found himself being dragged around the mall by Sheryl. The first shop the duo stopped at was a clothing store, and when Kurose asked Sheryl why they were there, he got a blank look in return.

"I'm going to get you some normal shirts. You can't wear a T-shirt that says 'T-shirt'" She spoke.

"Eh? What's wrong with it? I asked you earlier and you didn't say anything!" Kurose complained

"I did! I said exactly what I said just a moment ago! Please just wear a normal shirt! I'll buy you another shirt even, as long as you change into it immediately!" She spoke, almost seeming to beg Kurose to change shirts.

"Nuh uh. I won't do it." Kurose declared, making his stance clear before turning away from Sheryl.

"Kurose, please!" She spoke, grabbing hold of him.

The trip to the clothing store ended in failure. The next shop was slightly more successful at catching his interest.

"A bookstore?" He asked cautiously.

"Yeah! You have those books on your side, so maybe you could take up reading as a hobby!" Sheryl explained.

"But I already have a hobby?" He spoke plainly.

"I would say that's less of a hobby and more of a job." She responded with a shrug. "I mean, I've seen how stressed you can get when you keep messing up, considering that's your main income."

"Alright, that's fair." Kurose conceded. But it was fine for him to get stressed at that, because as she had said, it was his main form of income. Something that he himself made and wasn't handed to him by his parents.

"But where would I even start with books?" He asked. "I've only read those few books, including those we had to at school, and none of them appealed to me."

"Well, what about those books on your side? What were they called? What genre?" She asked question after question, and Kurose did his best to answer them.

"It's been a while since i read them, so i can't remember what genre. As for what they are called, i think it was Eragon, Eldest, dunno and dunno."

"Alright. Two names out of four is fine. Just let me…" Sheryl pulled out her phone, searching up the book names before continuing. "Right, so it looks like they are fantasy books! I'll pick up a few fantasy books, and we will see if any of them catch your fancy, alright?"

Kurose nodded his head at that, and Sheryl raced off to pick up some books. He could see her dashing around the library, picking up various books, earning glares from the employees of the book store. Sheryl seemed to ignore those as Kurose sat down at a small desk, with Sheryl placing a small pile of books before him before sitting down opposite him.

"Right. Read the blurbs and see if any of them catch your interest, alright?" She spoke, motioning for him to start looking.

With a small sigh, Kurose nodded, beginning to read through the blurbs on the books Sheryl had bought. As he made his way through the blurbs, a few sounded interesting enough, so he placed them to the side. Once he had fully sorted through the pile, he moved towards the pile he had put to the side, checking through a few of them again, making sure he was actually interested in them. This led to a couple being put onto the pile in the center of the table, but it left him with two seperate books.

Sheryl looked over the two books, seeming happy that Kurose had actually decided on not just one, but two books if the smile on her face was anything to go by.

"...Are you sure you want to buy these?" Kurose spoke after a moment. "I mean, I have enough money. I can definitely buy them, so you don't have to force yourself if you don't-"

"Kurose, it's fine." Sheryl spoke, cutting him off. "I wouldn't have made the offer if I didn't want to, would I?"

"W-well, I know that, but still! I have some money I can spend, so I can pay for-"

"Kurose," Sheryl spoke, cutting him off once again. She gave him a small look before continuing. "I'm buying it for you, alright? You aren't going to change my mind, so just make it easier for yourself and accept it."

Kurose stared at her for a moment, and Sheryl returned his gaze. Kurose moved to grab the books, but Sheryl moved faster, snatching the books off the table before standing up and sticking her tongue out at him.

"FIne, you win. Have fun spending your money." Kurose spoke, having given up on trying to convince her.

"I will!" She spoke cheerfully. "I'll meet you outside, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you out there." He spoke with a sigh, picking himself up from his seat before slowly making his way out.

As Kurose waited for Sheryl to appear, he thought about how determined Sheryl seemed to be to get something he might enjoy.

I mean, there's no reason for her to be this invested in me, right? Sure, we've known each other for years, but surely she should have given up on me by this point. I never go out with her, never accept her invitations to places, what use does she even have for me?

His thoughts paused there for a moment before continuing. Wait, is she staying friends with me just out of pity or something? Yeah, of course she is. She just doesn't know how to end our friendship.

Soon enough, Sheryl appeared, with both of the books in a small, plastic bag which she quickly handed off to Kurose, a smile on her face.

"Is there anywhere else you wanna go check out?" She asked him, earning a shake of his head.

"Not really. Though, I did want to ask you something…" He spoke slowly.

Sheryl stared at him curiously. "Sure, what is it?"

"It's just… Do you really want to be friends with me?" He asked quickly, earning a confused look from her.

"Eh? What do you mean?" She spoke, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Do you actually want to be my friend? Are you just… being nice to me because we have been friends for ages? I mean, you have all those other friends you hang out with and all that."

"What?" Sheryl looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"I…" Kurose struggled to get the words out before sighing, running his hand through his hair again, his leg bouncing up and down. "Do you feel like you are being forced to be friends with me?"

"No! Not in the slightest!" She denied, quickly forming an X with her arms. "Not at all! I chose to be your friend, and I'm gonna stick by it! Plus, when I'm around you, I can just be myself! I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not! With you, I can just relax!"

Kurose paused at that, looking at Sheryl as she continued to shake her head, before slowly nodding his own. That got Sheryl to stop, who seemed to look at him for a moment before looking away.

"Lets… Let's just leave." Sheryl spoke softly, beginning to move, with Kurose following behind.

The duo walked in silence. Kurose wasn't sure how to respond to what Sheryl had said. He didn't know that Sheryl valued their friendship that much, and it made him feel even worse than he had before.

How could he even think of stopping being her friend after what she had said? A small frown made its way onto his face as the light turned red, before Sheryl began to walk, Kurose spoke up.

"...Sheryl, I'm sorry." He spoke softly.

Sheryl didn't respond immediately, letting his apology linger in the air for a moment. "Its fine Kurose. I didn't realize you thought that."

She shook her head before turning to face him. "It's kind of my fault for just expecting you to realize. I like being around you, like I said before. I don't have to put on any masks, don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not. I can just… relax."

Kurose smiled slightly at that. He was glad he could help her relax, even if he didn't know what exactly made it so easy for her to do as much around him.

"Now come on, let's go before the light changes again. I don't wanna wait even longer!"

Seemingly done with the conversation, Sheryl began to cross the road, with Kurose a little bit behind her.

"So, what are you gonna do back at yours?" Sheryl called back to him.

"I'm not sure to be honest. Maybe just relax, might even start reading one of the books." He spoke with a small shrug..

"Great! You'll have to tell me how you like them! Actually, do you mind if I come round yours and just relax?"

"Yeah, sure." He responded with another shrug, despite Sheryl not being able to see it. "It's not like I have much going on."

"Thanks Kurose!" Sheryl spoke, spinning around to face him. Her cheerful face remained for only a moment before it morphed into horror, giving Kurose a moment of confusion.

Though, that moment of confusion was soon cleared up by the feeling of metal hitting flesh and bone. The feeling of pain spread through his body quickly before fading just as quickly as it came. Instead, a coldness seemed to replace it. But Kurose couldn't bring himself to complain.

If he was going to die, at least it wasn't going to be in pain..He couldn't feel much, but he could tell his head was being moved. Was someone here to help him? Soon enough, he found himself staring at Sheryl, who seemed to be trembling slightly.

He opted to smile at her, but that seemed to be the wrong decision to make as he felt a small drop of water fall onto his face.

Is it raining? He thought idly before catching sight of the tears in Sheryls eyes. Ah… It's my fault again, huh? He tried to reach his hand up, to try and wipe away her tears, but Sheryl shook her head.

"H-hey, stop trying to do stuff Kurose. Just… Just relax, okay? Im… I'm sure helps on the way." She spoke, clearly not believing it if the way her body shook was anything to go by.

Kurose already knew it wasn't likely to make it on time, if he was to go by the numbness of his body. He could barely feel anything. He just wanted to sleep…

"Hey! Kurose, keep your eyes-"

Sheryls voice cut off as Kurose shut his eyes fully,

"-ave hero, please, save our world!" A young man's voice called out, causing Kuroses eyes to widen.

He caught sight of the ceiling of the room, and his eyes focused on a silver chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and his breath caught in his throat. He… He was outside when he closed his eyes, as far as he knew. He didn't know of any place that still had chandeliers like that in their home. Just where was he?

He pushed himself up from his position on the floor, sitting up to get a better look at the room he was in. He was surrounded by several wooden disks, with thin threads that seemed to connect them all.

"Hero, can you hear our voices?" The same voice that had gotten Kuroses eyes to open spoke again, and Kuroses gaze wandered over to where the voice came from.

Three robed people stood just outside of the circle, with two people kneeling behind who Kurose presumed was the leader.

"Please, Accessory Hero!" He cried out. "Protect our world from the calamities that are befalling it!"

Liked the new chapter one of this fic? Hated it? feel free to shout at me on the MWP discord server d isco /tg hjbw wP